By TIM ROWDEN
Editor
Jefferson City – Five Democratic Senators – each of them tireless advocates for the working class – stopped extremists in the Missouri legislature from pushing through a Paycheck Deception bill this session.
The unfair and deceptive measure, HB-1617, would have curbed the ability of public employee unions to collect fees by requiring annual written authorization from each and every union member to deduct union dues or political contributions from members’ paychecks – despite the fact that workers already sign-off on such deductions when they join the union.
Paycheck Deception is a back door approach to Right-to-Work, with the same goal of financially crippling unions to silence workers’ voices.
Speaker of the House Tim Jones (R-Eureka) said as much in December 2012 when he called paycheck deception “a way to get to the ultimate goal of Right-to-Work.”
‘CHAMPIONS OF WORKING FAMILIES’
Teaming together, Sen. Jason Holsman (D-Kansas City), Sen. Scott Sifton (D-Affton), Sen. Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis), Sen. Gina Walsh (D-Bellefontaine Neighbors), Sen. Paul Levota (D-Independence) and Sen. Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City) sustained a five-hour filibuster of the unfair bill, which would have put the paycheck deception question before voters.
“Without these champions of working families, the unfair and dangerous Paycheck Deception bill could be moving closer to becoming law,” said Mike Louis, secretary-treasurer of the Missouri AFL-CIO.
CYNICAL PLOY
Jeff Mazur, Executive Director of Missouri AFSCME, called the measure “a naked, cynical ploy to diminish the voices of middle-class Missourians.”
Mazur said the Senate’s time could have been better spent solving real problems in Missouri.
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